


Photo Development

by eeveestho



Series: Yakulev Week 2015 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, genderqueer shibayama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 07:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4555935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eeveestho/pseuds/eeveestho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yaku and Lev go on a double date to the amusement park, and Lev tries to not be too jealous of his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photo Development

**Author's Note:**

> yakulev week: day 1 - travel

Lev wasn’t jealous of Inuoka and Shibayama. Really, he wasn’t.

He watched them walk in front of him, so close together that they had to take steps at the same time to avoid bumping shoulders. Shibayama had his hand in Inuoka’s back pocket, and he had his arm around their shoulder.

Lev glanced over at Yaku, who was walking beside him, a foot or two away. His hands were currently occupied by the huge soft pretzel he was eating. He thought that if he tried to put his arm around Yaku’s shoulders, it would not return to him in its original condition.

“What ride do you want to go on next, Yaku?”

Yaku looked up at him, his cheeks bulging with pretzel for a moment. Lev grinned fondly: he looked like a chipmunk. After swallowing the food down, he answered, “How about bumper cars?”

“Yeah, that sounds fun!” Lev said, nodding brightly. “Hey, guys, do you wanna go to bumper cars?”

Inuoka turned his head to look at them. “Yeah, that sounds great!!”

The line for bumper cars was incredibly long -- snaking all the way around the arena, so that the four of them, joining the end of the line, were nearly next to those at the beginning of it. As they stood in the sweltering summer heat, Lev glanced down at Yaku, who was stuffing the last bits of soft pretzel into his mouth.

This was still... new. He still wasn’t sure how to approach Yaku, now that they were officially dating. Or at least, he _thought_ they were officially dating... They had gone on 4 dates now; surely that was official enough?? Lev was still unsure, so he had invited his friends along today to act as a sort of safety net: if it was too awkward with Yaku, he could turn to them for relief.

But, that had turned out to be a... slight miscalculation. The two of them were so wrapped up in each other that, unless Lev shouted at them or poked them, it was like he wasn’t even there... leaving him to deal with his tiny, angry new boyfriend all by himself.

He glanced up at his two best friends. They were taking a selfie on someone’s phone -- Inuoka and Shibayama had matching ones, he could never tell them apart -- and... god. They looked _so_ good in it. Lev could see the screen over Inuoka’s shoulder, with the two of them squished together to fit in the frame. They were happy, and smiling, and so clearly _in love_ and so clearly a _couple_.

“...Hey, Yaku,” he said, with some trepidation, “Wanna take a selfie with me??”

Yaku glanced up at him, his eyebrows raised. “Um... sure?”

With a grin, Lev pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and tapped on the screen, bringing up the front-facing camera. He held it out in front of him, but the line -- while it was moving fairly quickly -- was packed pretty tightly, and his arm couldn’t reach out very far. When he pointed the phone’s camera at the two of them, Lev’s head was half cut-off at the top, and all that was visible of Yaku was his forehead. In the phone screen, he could see Yaku’s eyebrows knitted together in a familiar scowl.

Lev laughed nervously, his thumb flicking quickly away from the shutter button. “Um... Here, Yaku, why don’t you hold the camera?”

That didn’t work either. Yaku had to tilt the phone to get both of them in frame, and what resulted was an extremely unflattering picture of both of them from below, double chins and all.

“I could squat down?” Lev offered weakly.

Yaku’s answering scowl was answer enough. They didn’t have the chance to discuss the matter further, as they had finally gotten to the front of the bumper cars line.

“Want to share a car with me, Yaku?” Lev asked eagerly, watching Inuoka and Shibayama pile into one together.

“No,” he answered shortly, and walked off to get his own car.

Lev told himself that the aggression with which Yaku continuously rammed into his bumper car was just Yaku’s competitive nature, instead of some personal vendetta against him. This idea wasn’t very well supported by the fact that Yaku, at one point, literally veered _out of the way_ of Inuoka and Shibayama to attack Lev.

But, personal vendetta or not, the bumper cars seemed to have worked off some of Yaku’s aggression: he was positively chipper after they got off. He even agreed, without much hesitation, when Shibayama suggested they go on the carousel next.

Lev walked silently beside Yaku (who, to Lev’s bewilderment, had bought and was eating yet more junk food, this time in the form of a hot dog), staring at the lovey-dovey couple in front of him. His mind was working furiously, trying to figure it out.

A picture _meant_ something. It meant that there was something to take a picture _of_ , that this day, that this _thing_ , was important. And this... this was so, so important to Lev. Yaku was important to Lev. And more than anything, he wanted a picture of the two of them together, having fun at the amusement park, maybe-officially dating.

An idea flashed into his mind. He had seen a series of pictures on Instagram of a couple vacationing together. They had taken all the pictures with the girl leading the way, pulling her boyfriend along, towards adventure. Lev had _loved_ those pictures when he had first seen them, vowing that one day, he would take similar pictures when he finally managed to snag a boyfriend.

Now, he had snagged one, and they were in the perfect place for it.

“Hey, Yaku, I have an idea for a picture,” he said excitedly, turning with a bounce to look down at him.

Yaku’s answering frown was made slightly less scary by the fact that there was mustard in the corner of his mouth. “Does it involve me standing on a box?” he asked dryly.

“No.” Although, that was a good idea. “Have you seen those Instagram pictures of the girl pulling her boyfriend by the hand when they travel?”

A blank stare answered him. He continued on, “Okay, well, I’ll show it to you later. It was super cute. Here, let’s do some. Grab my hand and walk in front of me!”

Yaku stared at him, confusion written across his face, but then shrugged and complied. His hand was warm in Lev’s, calloused on his palm but soft-skinned on the back of his hand. Lev pulled out his camera, grinning at Yaku as he began to walk away from Lev, pulling him along. This would be so perfect.

Or, it would be perfect, if Yaku would just _slow down_. No matter how many pictures he snapped, they were blurred from the constant motion of their quick pace.

“Wait, Yaku, walk slower!” he protested, nearly tripping over his own feet. “The pictures are all blurry!”

“I can barely see Inuoka and Shibayama!” he called back, not turning around as they jogged forward. “They disappeared into the crowd!”

By the time Yaku and Lev had caught up to them -- Inuoka had bolted away once he saw a mascot character in the distance -- their hands had come apart, Lev had put away his phone in resignation, and he was too embarrassed to ask for a retry.

Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, Lev thought gloomily as they walked around the park. Yaku had acquired cotton candy after they went on the carousel (honestly, Lev thought, how did he eat like this and still be fit enough to be on the volleyball team?) and was plucking it off the main cloud with his fingers. Honestly, he seemed more interested in eating copious amounts of junk food than spending time with Lev.

Yaku wasn’t trying to take a picture with Lev, or buy souvenirs with Lev. Maybe to him... this wasn’t anything. Maybe this was just a stupid outing with his underclassmen. Maybe, just like always, Lev was looking for a fairytale ending that just wasn’t there.

“Hey, do you guys want to go on the rollercoaster?” Shibayama asked, grinning up at the giant wooden monstrosity that loomed up 25 feet high beside them.

“No,” Lev answered instantly, at the same time that Yaku answered, “Yes.”

They looked at each other, Lev with a frown and Yaku with a grin, and turned, in unison, to look at Inuoka for the tiebreaker vote.

He grinned uncertainly at both of them. “Sure, why not?”

The half hour wait in line was excruciating. With every shuffling step forward, Lev became more and more anxious about what was to come. He hated rollercoasters. He hated anything that was intentionally scary. Horror movies, haunted houses, tests of courage, thrill rides... they were all terrible. He would much rather have a _nice_ time, thank you very much, instead of facing death.

But, he was also on a maybe-date, with his maybe-boyfriend, who he definitely wanted to impress. So, he stayed in line.

The ride was only 60 seconds, and then it would be over.

They got onto the rollercoaster car, with Yaku and Lev in the _very front_ seats -- originally, they were Shibayama’s and Inuoka’s, but Yaku pulled seniority on them and claimed them as their upperclassman. The car pulled away from the station with a shudder, and Lev could feel his heart pounding in his throat.

“Excited?” Yaku asked, grinning at him as they began to climb the hill.

Lev didn’t trust himself to answer, so he just shrugged a weird, jerky shrug, staring straight ahead at the sky. He could see Yaku staring at him out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t dare turn and look. If he wasn’t looking ahead, they could start to fall without him realizing it, and Lev would die.

Then, Lev felt a familiar sensation. He glanced down, and saw that Yaku had laced his fingers through Lev’s, which were gripping the guard rail tightly. “I’ve got you, okay?” Yaku said softly, almost too quietly to hear over the clatter of the climbing cart.

Lev nodded jerkily, taking his hand off the guard rail to grip Yaku’s hand back. Some of his panic ebbed away at the familiar warmth. He was safe. He had Yaku beside him.

“Here we go!” Yaku said cheerfully, as they began to crest the hill. Then, to Lev’s absolute horror, Yaku raised both his hands into the air, including the one currently gripping Lev’s hand. And then, they dropped, one of Lev’s hands holding a death grip on the guard rail, the other holding a death grip on Yaku’s hand.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could scream that loud,” Yaku said, 60 seconds later, as they got off the ride. Lev practically flopped out of it, his legs weak from terror. Yaku helped him up, with that same traitorous hand that had forced him to let go of the guard rail.

Lev was never going on a rollercoaster with Yaku ever again, not as long as he lived. He wasn’t safe with him; he was _in danger_.

Stumbling slightly, he followed Inuoka, Shibayama, and Yaku out of the rollercoaster station, to the booth where they showed pictures of riders taken during the ride.

Inuoka burst out laughing. “Oh my god, look at Lev!” he cried, pointing at the top left television screen. Lev looked, and saw, to his horror, a photo of Lev screaming, eyes wide and horrified, with one arm in the air. Beside him, Yaku was grinning a huge grin, his eyes squinted shut with the force of his smile, both arms in the air. He looked... really good, truth be told.

But that was besides the point. Lev looked awful. He looked like that famous painting of the guy screaming.

Seeking to distract himself, he glanced over to look at his friends’ picture. They were smooching. He didn’t know why he was even surprised.

Lev staggered away, still feeling light-headed and noodle-limbed, to sit down on a nearby park bench. Letting out a sigh, he buried his face in his hands.

He gave up. Today was a terrible idea. All that had happened to him was that he got bruised up in a game of bumper cars, failed to take any decent pictures, and totally embarrassed himself by screaming like a banshee in front of his maybe-boyfriend-but-probably-just-a-friend-now-that-he’s-seen-me-cry-on-a-rollercoaster.

“You okay?”

Lev looked up to see Yaku standing over at him, smiling hesitantly at him.

“Not really,” Lev answered honestly. He felt tears begin to burn behind his eyes, and closed his eyes for a few seconds, willing them away.

Yaku sat down on the bench beside him. He let out a long sigh. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have made you go on something you didn’t want to,” he said quietly.

“You didn’t make me do anything,” he replied dully. “I decided to go on it.”

“But you didn’t want to go on it.”

“No.”

“Do you want to go home?” Yaku offered, after a moment’s pause.

“No. I just... need to sit for a sec.”

The silence stretched between them for a minute, while Lev took deep calming breaths and let the world pass him by. Yaku sat calmly beside him, looking out at the passersby as well.

“Where’s Inuoka and Shibayama?” Lev asked, turning to look at him.

He shrugged. “Dunno. Ran off somewhere. We can text them to find them if you want.”

He didn’t really, truth be told. They were adorable, and his best friends, but... right now, he didn’t want to be around their perfection. Not when his own romantic life was so imperfect.

“I know I haven’t been really... affectionate today,” Yaku said suddenly, staring straight ahead. “I was... kinda nervous.”

Lev blinked at him. “You were nervous??”

Yaku let out another sigh. “Yeah. I mean... so far, it’s been just you and me on dates. I don’t have to worry about... other people. And what they think of me.”

Their companions. Of course. “You were worried about Inuoka and Shibayama??”

“Well, I’m their sempai...” he muttered. “I’m supposed to be, like, an authority figure... I can’t really be that when I’m walking around being all lovey-dovey with my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend???” he repeated, his voice raising a pitch in shock and excitement.

Yaku looked over at him. There was a strange expression on his face. “Yeah... is that... okay?”

“Yes,” he said, quickly. “ _Heck_ yes.”

He let out a bark of a laugh, that strange expression melting away to one of relief. “Okay, good. Because I wouldn’t buy a souvenir photo for someone I wasn’t dating.” And, with that, he raised his hand, which Lev had assumed was empty, and held out a glossy photograph to him.

He looked down at it, and saw that it was the photo from the rollercoaster, with Yaku grinning and Lev screaming.

“Oh my god, Yaku,” Lev whined. “That picture is awful. Why would you pay for that??”

“I love it,” he said, grinning. “I bought two copies. One for me, one for you. It’s something to remember today by.”

He stared at Yaku mutely, bubbly warmth rising up in his chest. They had a picture. They were something. They were important. They were a _thing_.

“Now,” Yaku said, pressing the photo into Lev’s hand, “I don’t really wanna meet up with the others yet. Wanna walk around a bit?”

“Can we go on the ferris wheel?” Lev asked, smiling a little.

Yaku frowned slightly, but then nodded. “If you want to, yeah. I owe you.”

“Yeah, you do.”

It turned out that, in addition to the rollercoaster souvenir photo, they managed to get one more photo that day. It was a selfie at the top of the ferris wheel, with the orangey pink sky of the setting sun behind them. This time, they were both in frame; this time, the photo wasn’t blurred; and this time, they were both smiling.


End file.
